![\"ccs-58780-0-77557100-1478176054.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-58780-0-77557100-1478176054.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a> Photo credit:Mark Sampson<\/span>Then it was off to Iceland for another testing circumnavigation by kayak.<\/p>\n
Next he took to a tiny boat with then fianc\u00e9 Vasti Geldenhuys and they rowed across the massive Atlantic Ocean from Morocco to New York. And after they got married earlier this year they crossed the treacherous section of the Pacific Ocean from California to Hawaii by rowboat.<\/p>\n
Most of us would need a long period of rest after just reading about those expeditions. But the Manser\/Geldenhuys axis is not like most of us: they are already training to take on the rugged Absa Cape Epic together for the third time in March next year. Rian will be bidding for his Amabubesi \u2013 \u201cpride of lions\u201d \u2013 status for finishing all three, but Vasti had to pull out during the event this year after falling and breaking a bone in her hip.<\/p>\n
So what is it about the Epic that keeps him coming back? \u201cFirstly it means I can have a super challenging week but still be \u2018home\u2019. And, probably most significantly, I am not away for two years trying to do something like circumnavigating the African continent,\u201d Riaan says.<\/p>\n
In spite of this year\u2019s setback, Vasti will be on the starting line alongside Riaan: \u201cThe Epic draws you back into its clutches every year. When you have tasted how it feels when you cross that finish line \u2026 there are not many things that can make you feel such accomplishment,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen Riaan and I crossed that finish line in 2015 I wanted to go back, and even though I broke my hip in 2016 I still want to go back. You just can\u2019t help it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Riaan also points to the sense of camaraderie out on the course: \u201cThe mountain bike community is a relaxed, determined and competitive one, which we enjoy socialising with. We have had some incredible days in awesome, wild African countryside with incredible company,\u201d he says, adding a light-hearted request to his fellow riders: \u201cPlease don\u2019t ask me to begin telling a story when we start hammering it up Groenlandberg!\u201d \u2013 a reference to the event\u2019s most notorious climb, which will be encountered on Stage 6 next year.<\/p>\n
Is he looking forward to becoming an Amabubesi rider? \u201cVery much so. Apart from the pride of completing three Epics, the memories we have made over these years have been awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their honeymoon by rowboat from California to Hawaii was not exactly, er, smooth sailing. Will the Epic then be a sort of second honeymoon? \u201cSo we hope it\u2019s going to be a happier outing than the Pacific Ocean crossing was,\u201d Riaan smiles. \u201cFlip, when we think back, it was scary and stressful with very few \u2018happy\u2019 faces to be seen. Epic will hopefully be kinder to us as a newlywed couple.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vasti believes though that their experiences at sea have been good preparation for a team race like the Cape Epic: \u201cObviously spending days, weeks, months together in a small space does prepare you for any team race. We hopefully ironed out all our grievances with each other,\u201d she laughs. \u201cTraining together also improves communication come race time. And we do communicate a lot during the race \u2026 ask some of the other riders.\u201d<\/p>\n
What are their objectives for the race? \u201cI cycle because it keeps me in shape,\u201d responds Vasti. \u201cRiaan and I train each year for the Epic, but do not do many MTB races in the rest of the calendar year (our rowing keeps us busy). For me, I would like to finish the race with Riaan. Even if it is as team 600 I\u2019ll be proud.\u201d<\/p>\n
They have, however, started their training earlier for next year\u2019s race and may just do a bit better than that: \u201cWe have started training three months earlier than we did on our previous two Cape Epics. With a few extra months preparation we should be a lot better condition come start day. Vasti and I agreed beforehand that our primary goal is to get our medals, but obviously we would like to spend less time out in the field this time round.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vasti agrees: \u201cThe training is going much better than last year. The one thing I\u2019m training for is just to ease the suffering a bit. If I feel pain now during our training, I hope to get used to that feeling, so when I feel it during the race it is normal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Riaan Manser is about as adventurous as you get: his bearded features first became familiar to South Africans as they watched from afar while he rode a bicycle around Africa and then circumnavigated Madagascar by kayak. Photo credit:Mark SampsonThen it was off to Iceland for another testing circumnavigation by kayak. Next he took to a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":39204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[76,24,1615],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-17427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-absa-cape-epic","tag-cape-epic","tag-riaan-manser"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17427"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=17427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}